An Indian-origin British national and legal permanent resident of the US was today sentenced to more than 11 years in prison for transporting child pornography.

An Indian-origin British national and legal permanent resident of the US was today sentenced to more than 11 years in prison for transporting child pornography.

Sandeep Verma, 42, was convicted of the charge after pleading guilty in June 2010, US Attorney Jose Angel Moreno said.

The prison sentence is to be followed by a life term of supervised release during which the court has imposed a number of condition to limit Verma's access to the Internet and to protect children.

Verma has also been ordered to register as a sex offender.

Arrested in October 2008, Verma was initially released on bond but that bond was revoked in February 2010 after he violated his bond conditions by viewing inappropriate images online.

He will remain in federal custody to serve his sentence.

The charges against Verma are the result of an investigation conducted by the Houston offices of the FBI and Immigration and Customs Enforcement – Homeland Security Investigations initiated in August 2007 when an FBI special agent logged onto a Peer-to-Peer file sharing programme and found a computer subsequently traced to Verma's then Sugar Land residence offering child pornography images to share.

Through further investigation, the FBI also learned that Verma travels out of the country frequently for business and alerted ICE-HSI.

On February 23, 2008, upon entering the US from Colombia at Bush Intercontinental Airport, Verma's personal belongings including his laptop computer and CDs in his possession were examined by Customs and Border Protection officers.

Images of child pornography were found on a CD in Verma's possession.

Investigating agents obtained a warrant to search Verma's residence and secured his computer from that location.

A search and forensic analysis of that computer resulted in the discovery of Verma's extensive child pornography collection which included more than 100,000 images and videos containing child pornography.